projects
Dismantling Deficit Thinking in Academic Libraries : Theory, Reflection, and Action
Students come to universities with identities, knowledge, and lived experiences that contribute to their success. They offer unique viewpoints and enrich the spaces they inhabit through their differences. However, educators often default to deficit thinking, an unintentionally harmful mindset that aims to support students by attempting to “fix” their perceived shortcomings. Dismantling Deficit Thinking in Academic Libraries weaves theory, practice, and reflection to introduce deficit thinking and provide alternative strategies and educational principles that have the power to transform our work with students.
Logo for Libparlor containing the word #Libparlor in a teal bubble with a purple background
The Librarian Parlor
The Librarian Parlor (aka LibParlor) is a space to have conversations, share expertise, and ask questions about conducting and publishing research and scholarship in the field of library and information science. This project was developed collaboratively with Hailley Fargo, Katlyn Griffin, and Charissa Powell.
Image of students gathered around laptops in a large room - taken at a UNLV Libraries Wikipedia edit-a-thon
Open Pedagogy & Incorporating Wikipedia into the Classroom
I am very interested in investigating what happens when students become contributors of knowledge through open pedagogy practices such as editing Wikipedia. I am fortunate to work with an amazing team at UNLV Libraries who host bi-annual edit-a-thons.
You can find the all of the edit-a-thon materials we use to host the events in this folder.
All materials are shared under a CC BY-NC-SA license. Please attribute materials to: UNLV University Libraries, Chelsea Heinbach, Brittany Paloma Fiedler, and Rosan Mitola.
If you’d like to learn more about how we host these events check out this blogpost.
Additionally, I have created a guide with colleagues Carrieann Cahall and Maggie Bukowski for incorporating Wikipedia into the classroom. Please review and let me know what you think!
Community-based Participatory Research
CBPR is a methodology based in the idea that we should study alongside members of the communities we are researching. Rosan Mitola and I worked with the Mason Undergraduate Peer Research Coaches to develop a CBPR project investigating the strengths and lived experiences of first generation students. All researchers had been or were current first-gen students. The students conducted the interviews, focus groups, and data collection themselves.